Suspension for memo row official

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

A manager accused of hiding a politically sensitive memo claiming Immigration Service staff conspired to lie about a suspected terrorist has been suspended from his job.

Communications manager Ian Smith has been stood down on full pay after a scathing report said he deliberately tried to conceal the memo from Ombudsman Mel Smith.

The Ombudsman found Ian Smith and another Immigration Service worker failed to act professionally as public servants, and he could not believe their evidence even though they were questioned under oath.

It is not known if the second staff member, a woman, is facing disciplinary action.

Ian Smith and the woman "strenuously" disagreed with Mel Smith's findings about them.

Ian Smith's job was already on the line before this week's suspension, after the Department of Labour, which oversees the Immigration Service, began disciplinary procedures against him last year for penning the memo.

He had noted on an internal media log that he had been "let down badly" by colleagues over Algerian asylum-seeker Ahmed Zaoui, who was detained in December 2002 as a threat to national security.

"Everyone agreed to lie in unison, but all the others caved in and I was the only one left singing the original song," the memo said.

Ian Smith, and former Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel, dismissed the memo as "flippant".

The National Party tried to obtain the memo under the Official Information Act but the two workers repeatedly told National, and later the Ombudsmen's Office, there was no such document - until the Herald published a copy. Mel Smith then launched an inquiry to find out why he had not been given the memo as required by law.

An internal inquiry cleared the two workers of any conspiracy to deceive the Ombudsman, but Ian Smith was moved from dealing with external media inquiries.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Labour confirmed yesterday he had been suspended.

"This is in relation to the Ombudsman's report, to allow an appropriate investigation into matters raised in that report," the spokeswoman said.

"This is separate from the disciplinary action started last year which ... has been ongoing and is in its final stages."

Department of Labour chief executive James Buwalda would not comment, but he has said he would consider the Ombudsman's report and pursue disciplinary action if necessary.

"I think it's totally unacceptable that any department, and especially my own, fails to meet its obligations," he said when the report was released last week.

Mel Smith said Ian Smith's evidence to him was not credible and was unconvincing. Ian Smith had "deliberately dissembled".

Mel Smith was also highly critical of the second staff member, but said he could not find "sufficient reliable evidence" the pair had conspired to deceive him.

National MP Murray McCully said last night the Ombudsman had made a direct finding that the two had "misled him under oath".

"The reaction I've had from people is to wonder what you have to do to get fired in this country."